Twenty-fourth Ten

Today marks the official those-miles-are-going-to-start-rapid-falling-off-the-countdown day! Once the weekend long runs are double digits, it's almost scary how fast they tick down! So, today was a day to get moving!

PC#2 wants to keep running on weekends, so I keep routing my courses to incorporate the first 2 miles to be with her. Excellent!

Ready to go! Elly will be ready after she
gets her fill of lip balm smell!

After the Half, I plan to take PC#2 on longer runs that we do together. That'll be a fun way for me to keep my miles up to hit my year-end goal, too! But, allow me to not get ahead of myself; there's some serious work to do! So, off we went!

It was a see-your-breath morning today which is perfect running weather! At least, it's perfect for me even though my knees ... seriously, my knees ... were cold for many miles! Perhaps the chilly is not yet perfect for PC#2 as I looked next to me and saw this:

She's keeping her nose and her ears warm.

I'm fairly certain I'll be able to convince her of the merits of the chillier mornings. After all, the chilly doesn't last much past the first mile! She'll never embrace it like I do and the degree to which I do, and I understand as I am soooo very happy all the way down to 15 degrees. Under that, it gets a bit iffy, but it doesn't stop me! Unless there's ice. That stops me.

But, while we may not see eye to eye on the temperatures, I'm pleased to see that my treasure hunting has totally rubbed off. Among a couple of other scores, she found this:

Yup, it's a monkey. It's missing a tail, and
its head is wobbly. But, it's fabulous.

That's good stuff, and she's already pretty good at the stoop-n-snag (I'm so proud), so I anticipate we will continue to be great running partners! Let's revisit that statement when the temps drop ... I'm very curious about how far she'll push it until she tells me I'm crazy ...

Anyway, I was also super-impressed with her on the very last stretch of Mile 1 because it's a pretty mean up hill. I've had to work for a couple of years for it to not make me gasp nor slow down, so it was impressive we both kept our pace. At the top, I said, "Well done. That's a tough up hill." I was just waiting for her to tell me it was no big deal to her which might have disheartened her ol' mom even though I'm sure I am supposed to be pleased with such a declaration. (Disheartened, have to kick her, same-same ...) Instead, though, she thanked me and said, "I was wondering who decided this hill was a good idea." Ah, even with someone who can cruise like I never have, I'm not alone!

We got to the end of our together miles where we hugged and took a commemorative photo ...

... before heading on our own ways. She ran back with Aaron and Elly and picked me a bouquet of flower weeds along the way:

Who else has a running partner who will
pick them flowers? I win!

I was pretty excited to head out on my longer route today as it incorporated some streets I've not run in many months. They're the same ones on which I started running, though, so it was fun to go back to them. They also seem too far away to actually run to, so the fact that I can take that on feels pretty cool.

Also cool were the things I saw along the way! In total, I found 5 pennies (yeah!!). See?

And, I saw a snake by a curb. That snake was still alive, so I kept on going. No need to make friends. I also saw a guy walking who seriously looked like he was in a trance. He stared straight ahead and was completely expressionless. I didn't want to make friends with him, either. And, certainly, no picture ... eeks!

Back to happy, I saw these:

And, while I know I've shared a pretty good variety of things I find along my runs, I most assuredly have not shown you this:

It's one thing to wonder why a penny is randomly along the road.
Don't you think it's entirely another to come across a whole
sandwich? I do ...

Once I get to the last two miles of a long run, I start to not notice things quite as much (although a coin will catch my eye ... I think I'm just programmed for that) and start to focus on myself. That's when I tend to remind myself of: how far I've already gone vs. how much is remaining; how that little pain in my (insert whatever body part is being contrary on that day) is one I've before felt, and I know it will not only go away but that I can also handle it in the meantime; how awesome I will feel when this run is finished, and how I hope Aaron is ready to walk out the door and get me a Diet Coke when I get home (which totally happened. Mmmm ...).

And, today at the 8-mile mark, I also visualized the picture my friend sent me after she finished her 10 miles yesterday. Her face was beaming, and I thought to myself, "I want to feel that way today, too." So, I kept a happy attitude and kept on going. It's good to have someone with you even if not physically right next to you!

And, when I hit what I thought was the 9-mile mark, I realized I was actually past 9 miles. WOOOOOOHOO, when does that ever happen? Um, never ... it's always the other way ... thinking you're at 9 when you're hovering at 3 (Isn't that the way it can feel sometimes?!). So, with less than a mile to go, I used that remaining time to calculate just how many times I've run 10 or more miles ... the current number is .. rat-a-tat-tat ... 24. Twenty-four 10-mile-or-more outings. Who the heck would have put money on that? Not I ... funny how I overcame even myself!

With that figured out, I wrapped up the run with a wee bit of water remaining, a few more grapes in my pocket and that feeling I love every time I get it:

I. Totally. Did. It. !!

I can't say I love that my schedule puts me out there for four more tomorrow, but I do love that four feels like nothing after 10 once I'm warmed up and into it. So, no need to gripe, just get up and do it. That should start the week off pretty well! Start yours off with whatever gives you that take-on-the-world feeling, and I'll see you after the morning run!